The idea of a long and happy retirement is a myth for all but a minority of
people, a stark new official analysis of the nation’s health suggests.

New projections by the Office for National Statistics show that in many parts of the country even future generations will see their health effectively broken long before they reach pension age.

In some areas an average baby born today can expect to see their health deteriorate irrevocably up to 10 years before they are due to retire.

Even when wide regional variations are taken into account, the average so-called “healthy life expectancy” – the length of time people would normally expect to lead a full and active life – in England is below the state pension age.

It calls into the question one of the strongest arguments for increasing the retirement age: that because people are living longer than in the past they should also have to work longer.

But the report also exposes a dramatic divide between north and south as well as the wealthiest and poorest neighbourhoods.

Children in the some better-off areas can now expect to remain fit and healthy as much as 18 years longer than their poorer counterparts.

According to the ONS a typical baby boy born in Manchester today can expected to enjoy only 55 years of good health while one born in Richmond upon Thames, Surrey, would have 70.3 years on average before seeing any significant deterioration.

Girls born in Tower Hamlets, east London, are expected to be in good health only until they are 54.1 years.

Yet in Richmond, just 16 miles to the west, a typical healthy life expectancy for a girl is 72.1 years.

Most arguments in favour of requiring people to work longer before drawing their pension rely on the traditional idea of life expectancy, which has been rising steadily.

Average life expectancy in England is currently 82.9 years for women and 78.9 years for men – although the gap is narrowing.

But when comparisons are made using the notion of Healthy Life Expectancy (HLE) – a prediction based on a range of health measures – the gap between different areas is much wider.

In all but two of the nine regions of England – the South East, which excludes London, and South West – the average HLE for men is below 65.

When planned rises in pension ages for women are taken into account, a similar picture emerges across the regions.

An average boy born in England can now expect to enjoy just 63.2 years of good health and 64.2 for a girl.

The study, the first of its kind, warns against basing the pension age purely on traditional ideas of life expectancy.

“It is important to track Healthy Life Expectancy as Life Expectancy increases, to see whether these years of additional life are spent in states of good health or in poor health and disability,” it concludes.

“Relevant to this are recent changes to state pension age in the UK where people are expected to extend their working lives to take account of improvements in Life Expectancy.”